Once and Future
by BrokenKestral
Summary: Very slight AU, where the stories of the Four are told as stories of Kings and Queens who will return in Narnia's darkest times.


**Disclaimer: I could hardly hope to own a legend. Perhaps I'll start one, though. It'd be interesting to live a life that was a legend.**

**A/N: The idea for this started by reading too much (if there is such a thing) Arthurian legends, and I started playing with the idea of the Pevensies as "once and future king(s and queens)." I've written a few other things, but they're disconnected one-shots (often short) of what the stories meant to various Narnians through the ages. They're a bit more disconnected than I like, but it's unfortunately all I had. I can add them as chapters to this if anyone has any interest.**

OOOOO

Mr. Tumnus spoke the words first. _"They'll come back,"_ he'd said.

The rest of Cair Paravel reiterated it.

_They'll be back again. They're not dead. _

_They'll return._

A few years went by, and hope stretched a little thinner but didn't break.

_They'll return some day._

Narnia heard this over and over. Narnia heard and kept hoping.

Narnia repeated it. _The Four will be back some day._

_They'll return. _

* * *

Mr. Tumnus never saw the Four again, not in his lifetime. They didn't come back in his children's lifetime either.

They did become legends. Over and over, their story was retold. There were four children, two boys and two girls. They defeated the White Witch. They founded Narnia's Golden Age. They rode away one day.

_They'll return._

* * *

The retellings lasted years, lifetimes; the stories echoed down through family trees. Told and treated as treasures, passing from father to son, mother to daughter, grandparents to wide-eyed cubs. The stories always ended the same way.

_One day they'll return_. _One day they'll come back._

* * *

They didn't come, but the Telmarines did. Ships on the sea appeared first, then soldiers with swords drawn or arrows strung, soldiers who pushed inward, inward, and inward further. They killed to conquer. Those children, grandchildren, even the mothers and fathers, when driven into hiding. Afraid, unsure, they held on to the treasured stories even more tightly. Around fires, over and over, the stories as told so that the Narnians remember those victories. For by those fires the stories become less of a legend and more of a promise.

_They'll return. Aslan's Kings and Queens will be Kings and Queens again. Not this Telmarine killer. They'll come back and drive him from the throne. Just as they drove away the Witch._

_They left. They're not dead and neither are we._

* * *

The first Caspian died. His son, Caspian the II, sat on Narnia's throne. His father won the war; the son grasped the land with tight fingers, pushing every reminder of older times into the dark or into a grave, where they can be regarded as lies.

The Narnians—Old Narnians, now—creep out at night. They grow used to hiding. But they don't forget the stories. The legends are no longer told around fires; they're whispered in caves. In the dark, hushed voices recite stories of the Golden Age, awe wringing whispers to the highest pitch. Young Narnians, hidden, listen while lumps of earth dig into their furred legs. They listen as the tellings speak of open dances under the starlight, where music can be played till its echoes reach the stars.

They tell of Kings and Queens who danced with them.

_They'll come back. We'll all dance and eat and feast around fires then. All together, under the stars._

* * *

The children grow. They hold their breath as Caspian the III's patrols thud by. They remember stories of a time soldiers passing meant safety, and even perhaps a glimpse of a beloved ruler. They remember a time when royalty didn't mean fear, and they whisper, in high tones of painful hope, that those Rulers might return again.

_They'll return. They have to now._

_We need them._

_We need the Four. There were four. Always, always, there were four. Four who never died. _

_Four who ended the darkest time Narnia had known. They ended a time like this one. A time of fear and hiding in the dark. They ended it. _

_Once a King of Narnia, always a King of Narnia; perhaps once more a King of Narnia._

* * *

The Four return, called by the clear, cool, thunderous note of their own horn, and the Telmarine Narnia topples. Once a king, always a king, and if not now Narnia's king, still Narnia's hero, and its leader.

The stories are no longer told in whispers.

The stories were proved true.

_They returned._


End file.
